Will Bristol Plug Its Plavix Hole or Become Another Drugmaker’s Plug?

By Sarah Rubenstein

Now that Pfizer has moved to put Wyeth into the big sales hole that Lipitor will leave when it goes generic in 2011, attention is turning to another drugmaker with its own blockbuster problem: Bristol-Myers Squibb.

Lipitor is the world’s biggest-selling drug. The anticlotting drug Plavix, marketed by Bristol-Myers and Sanofi-Aventis, ranks second. Its patent expires around the same time as Lipitor’s.

Plavix’s sales — at $1.47 billion in the fourth quarter — accounted for nearly 30% of Bristol’s reported revenue. Combine sales of Plavix with those of blood-pressure drug Avapro and antipsychotic Abilify and you’ve accounted for around half of the company’s business, the New York Times noted this morning. Avapro and Ability won’t be reliable sellers much longer either, with the medicines expected to leave big gaps around 2012 as Avapro goes generic and Bristol’s U.S. marketing rights for Abilify expire.

Bristol, for its part, continues to talk up a “string of pearls” strategy: acquiring biotech and specialty products through acquisitions or alliances. “We’re in shopping mode, we’re in strategy mode,” the WSJ quotes CEO Jim Cornelius as saying. But UBS analyst Roopesh Patel told WSJ that Bristol’s strategy, which includes shedding non-core businesses, “makes the company more attractive” as a takeover target.

So with Wyeth off the market, will Bristol be the next to go? Patel again, this time talking to the NYT, “Our view has been that in the large cap pharmaceutical space, the two obvious and attractive targets were Wyeth and Bristol.” As if the deal flames needed fanning, he added, “I would not be surprised if speculation now surrounding Bristol increases.”

Comments (2 of 2)

Just picked up a Plavix Perscription this morning to the tune of $169.64 for 30 days. That's $2040.00 a year for just the one of many perscriptions needed for SURVIVAL!!! Shame on these drug companies for the added expenses for marketing and advertising-CALL your doctor...ASK your doctor... TELL your doctor...... Do you think those of us on this medication just picked up the phone and said; "I want to take a $169.64 per month perscrition for PLAVIX for the rest of my life?? We are in Tough times, behave responsibly, and get those prices down.

8:39 pm February 12, 2010

Margaret Thuener wrote :

I was payihg 153.00 for Plavix and now it has raised to 178.00. Thie is not good for people on fixed incoe and now insurance or for anyone else either. I know drugs usuall raise in January but this is a hefty raise. Thank you